The principle of double effect and safe sex in marriage core. The doctrine of double effect philippa foot philippa foot 19202010 was a philosophy professor at somerville college, oxford and the. A challenge for new defenders of the doctrine of double effect mark mcbride 2 so. Liberating just war theory from double effect oxford. Revising the doctrine of double effect mcmahan 1994. In these two situa tions killing is a method of treatment. The doctrine of double effect dde suggests that in these situations there are stronger reasons not to pursue the good when the harm is intended as a means than when it is merely foreseen.
The principle of double effect also known as the rule of double effect. Oderberg few moral theorists would disagree that the fundamental principle of morality perhaps of practical rationality itself is do good and avoid evil. In the introduction to the ethics of war and nuclear deterrence, james p. Principle of double effect used in complex moral cases where the right way to proceed is uncertain and the decisionaction has the possibility of resulting in an unwanted evil effect even a good effect is being pursued.
The intention of administering the sedation is for. In traditional just war theory, the principle of double effect plays a key role in providing a potential justification for killing innocent bystanders. The principle allows the action as morally permissible in those circumstances in which the harmful effect is not intended, but is a side effect of the action. This paper claims as erroneous the current widespread representation of the doctrine of double effect dde as primarily condemning as intrinsically bad. Moral dilemmas are situations in which all available options have both good and bad consequences. The doctrine of double effect is an ethical principle dating back to the th century that explains how the bad consequences of an action can be considered ethically justified if the original intent was for good intention. Philosophers debate a controversial moral principle ed. A party of potholers have imprudently allowed the fat man to lead them as they make their way out of the cave, and he gets stuck, trapping the others. Introductionin ethical reasoning, the principle of double effect is sometimes invoked when an action has two effects hence double effect. Philippa foot, the problem of abortion and the doctrine of the double effect, in her virtues and vices and other essays in moral philosophy berkeley. Problem of abortion and the doctrine of the double effect. So, farewell then, doctrine of double effect the bmj. Mary of the lake,mundelein the principle of the double effect is one of the most practical in the study of moral theology. The doctrine of double effect and the ethics of dual use 155 a bad effect the attackers death, which the actor can foresee but need not intend.
The doctrine of double effect the dde is concerned with the application of normative moral theory to practical moral problems. Under that principle, deliberately killing an innocent person is never justified, but a course of action that has as a foreseen consequence the death of one or more innocent persons is justified if the loss of innocent life is an unintended. In this essay, i will use the term principle of double effect or pde throughout. Although the dde has been sharply criticized by secular. The principle of double effect was formulated by catholic ethicists to. The doctrine of double effect is meant to capture the considered moral judgment that producing unintended bad effects as a. Deconstructing the doctrine of double effect springerlink. Pdf on dec 19, 20, suzanne uniacke published the doctrine of double effect and the ethics of dual use find, read and cite all the research you need on. A double dose of double effect journal of medical ethics. Objections to the principle of double effect usually concern its first and second conditions that the act not be evil in itself, and that the good effect and not the evil effect be intended. The doctrine of double effect dde is a claim about the moral signi. The difficulty of distinguishing between what we intend and what we foresee i.
Second is his reading of the doctrine of double effect, 5. Yet along with such an uncontroversial principle comes a major question. As used in the abortion argument this doctrine has often seemed to noncatholics to be a piece of complete sophistry. According to the principle of double effect, sometimes it is permissible to cause a harm as a side effect or double effect of bringing about a. Elizabeth anscombe claims that the denial of the dde has been the corruption of noncatholic thought, and its abuse the corruption of catholic thought. The problem of abortion and the doctrine of the double effect. The doctrine of double effect is largely irrelevant in everyday practice forbes and huxtable 2006. Doctrine of double effect stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. But nonconsequentialists think that many other factors matter. Introduction the doctrine of double e ect is an ethical principle used subconsciously or consciously by humans in moral dilemmas.
The application of the doctrine of double effect in endoflife decisions, particularly concerning opioid use for relief of suffering can be complex and controversial. The doctrine of the double effect is an algorithm for solving all moral disputes in which an. If the four conditions of the principle of double effect. Page 66 of 141 the doctrine of double effect study of intention what is doctrine of double effect. This paper presents a possible clinically focussed illustration of the doctrine of double effect used in an acute urological setting. The key element in the doctrine of double effect dde is the claim that there is a stron presumption against action that has harm to the innocent as an intended. Since the doctrine, or principle of double effect as it is sometimes called, is specifically intended as a guide to decisionmaking in ethically difficult cases where an. As a purely descriptive matter, it is well established that it describes a consistent feature of human moral judgment. Like all sedation that controls pain or is used for surgicalanesthesia,itcancarrytheriskofanunintended bad effect, death, but the action itself is good. The validity of the double effect doctrine is examined in euthanasia and abortion. The psychological origins of the doctrine of double effect. Pdf the doctrine of double effect and the ethics of dual use. According to typical formulations of the doctrine of double effect dde, it is sometimes permissible to bring about as a foreseen but unintended side effect some harm it would have been impermissible to aim at as a means or as an end, all else being equal.
The difficulties often arise from a rejection of the idea that acts. Abstract the doctrine of double effect has been challenged by the claim that what an agent intends as a means may be limited to those effects that are precisely characterised by the descriptions under which the agent believes that they are minimally causally necessary for the production of other effects that the agent seeks to bring about. To the ex tent that the principle allows patients, families, and clinicians to respond in an ethically and clinically responsible way to palliative care emergencies without violating the fundamen tal values of any of the participants, it should 335. Following kamm s proposed doctrine of triple effect, i distinguish an. The principle of double effect and proportionate reason.
Palliative opioid use, palliative sedation and euthanasia. We briey presentdde, and use a rstorder modal logic, thedeontic cognitive event calculus, as our framework to formalize the doctrine. To see how odd it would be to apply the principle like this we may consider the story, well known to philosophers, of the fat man stuck in the mouth of the cave. Some times the principle of double effect is also invoked to justify the deaths of civilians in wartime as the indirect resul t and on administer ing painkillers. There is a due proportion between good and bad effects. The principle of double effect has played a significant role in the discussion of many difficult normative questions. For a brief survey of the present state of the field, see alison mcintyre, doctrine of double effect, the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. An error about the doctrine of double effect philosophy. Pdf the problem of abortion and the doctrine of double. The principle allows the action as morally permissible in those circumstances in which the harmful effect is not intended, but is a sideeffect of the action. To the ex tent that the principle allows patients, families, and clinicians to respond in an ethically and clinically responsible way to palliative care emergencies without violating the fundamen tal. Intention, permissibility, and double effect 1 oxford.
The function of the principle of double effect sage journals. By the doctrine of the double effect i mean the thesis that it is sometimes permissible to bring about by oblique intention what one may not directly intend. Pde states that there is a morally relevant difference. Is the doctrine of double effect irrelevant in endoflife. Thus, aquinas maintained, homicide in genuine selfdefence does not contravene an absolute prohibition against intended killing. And yet this principle has seemed to some noncatholics as well as to. In ethical reasoning, the principle of double effect is sometimes invoked when an action has two effects hence double effect. The socalled doctrine or principle of double effect hereafter called. Abortion is considered in relation to the doctrine of the double effect, which distinguishes between the intentions behind an action and consequences foreseen but not desired. This paper examines the doctrine of double effect as it is typically applied. The doctrine of double effect dde is an influential nonconsequentialist principle positing a role for intention in affecting the moral permissibility of some. Warren quinn has recently discussed the dde and its application to some such situations.
This article examines the doctrine of double effect through case examples and presents. As fohr suggests, the principle of dou ble effect is no more relevant to usual pain man agement than it is to many standard medical. My concern in this paper is a distinction most commonly associated with the doctrine of the double effect dde1. Thus, the double effect doctrine forbids the achievement of good ends by wrong means. As traditionally conceived, the doctrine of double effect places four restrictions on the permissibility of acting when some of the consequences of ones action are evil.
Principle of double effect 1 principle of double effect the principle of double effect. Whilst the doctrine has clear criteria which must be met for it to be applied, it is arguable that it is misinterpreted in some of these situations. The reason for this differentiation is usually seen in the principle of double effect pde. It is a principle to which catholic and certain noncatholic moralists and moral philosophers adhere. The paper explores the relationship between the principle of double effect pde and just war theory jwt, with emphasis on their relationship in the philosophy of thomas aquinas. The doctrine of double effect and the law of murder. The socalled doctrine or principle of double effect hereafter called the principle plays a central role in various areas of normative ethics, e. The words double effect refer to the two effects that an action may produce. The doctrine of double effect principles of health care. A demonstration of an acute difficulty for wdde, therefore, is of singular importance.
His principle interest in moral theology is the thought of st thomas aquinas. Thedoctrine of double effect dde is a longstudied ethical principle that governs when actions that have both positive and negative effects are to be allowed. Direct abortion or legitimate medical procedure double effect. The standard formulation of the doctrine states that it is licit to posit a cause which is either good or indifferent from which there follows a twofold effect, one good, the other evil, if a proportionally grave reason is present, and if the end of the. The doctrine of the double effect is an algorithm for solving all moral disputes in which an act will have two effects, one good and the other bad. The good effect does not result from the evil effect. Download introductionin ethical reasoning, the principle of double effect is sometimes invoked when an action has two effects hence double effect.
Acts of selfdefence, for example, are often justified using this principle. Double effect, double intention, and asymmetric warfare taylor. In order to reconcile this fact with the principle of discrimination in just war theory, the principle is applied through the doctrine of double effect. Unlimited viewing of the articlechapter pdf and any associated supplements and figures. Pdf on jan 1, 2003, john berkman published the doctrine of double effect. Pdf the principle of doubleeffect in a clinical context. On automating the doctrine of double effect naveen sundar govindarajuluandselmer bringsjord rensselaer polytechnic institute, troy, ny fnaveensundarg,selmer. The doctrine of double effect, in its most simplified form, is a moral theory used to determine whether a particular course of action adheres to an acceptable set of moral principles if it does, the action is considered morally permissible, and if it doesnt, it is considered morally. The doctrine of double effect does not protect a hcp if that. This principle is sometimes referred to as the doctrine of double effect dde. The doctrine of double effect is used in reasoning about the permissibility of acts that have both good and bad effects. Further, many contemporary defenses of dde implicitly function in part as defenses of wdde. This article is brought to you for free and open access by the faculty publications at loyola ecommons. This article examines the doctrine of double effect.
The doctrine of double effect is an unlikely target for psychological research. Pdf the principle of double effect and just war theory. The ethical doctrine of double effect permits health care professionals to administer potentially fatal medication, provided that their intentions are purely to control. The doctrine of double effect wiley online library.
Childresss principles of biomedical ethics,1 arguably the most influ ential textbook today. Eight arguments against double effect ezio di nucci universitat duisburgessen1 abstract i offer eight arguments against the doctrine of double effect, a normative principle according to which in pursuing the good it is sometimes morally permissible to bring about some evil as a side effect or. Its most prominent applications are in medical ethics, where it figures prominently in attempts to distinguish among permissible and impermissible procedures in a range of obstetrical cases. The doctrine of double effect states that a harmful effect of treatment, even resulting in death, is permissible if it is not intended and occurs as a side effect of a beneficial. Doctrine of double effect situations in which good can be secured for some people only if others suffer harm are of great significance to moral theory. Scanlon has recently followed james rachels and judith jarvis thomson in rejecting the dde on the grounds that it is implausible to. However, when opioids are correctly prescribed they do not hasten death and there is no need to invoke the doctrine of double effect to justify their use. By the doctrine of the double effect i mean the thesis that it is sometimes permissible to bring about by oblique intention what one. Elizabeth anscombe claims that the denial of the dde has been the corruption of noncatholic thought, and its abuse the corruption of catholic. This doctrine, often used to defend the position of the catholic church on abortion, is here rejected. The double effect doctrine forbids the achievement of good ends by wrong means but it permits actions with a double effect, both good and bad, under certain conditions. Opioid dose requirements cannot be predicted so, to avoid adverse effects, doses should always be titrated to the individual.
Alternative distinctions are drawn, between what we do and what we allow to happen, and between the infringement of. The use of intent as a means to distinguish between forms of care that are morally permissible and those that are not is central to the philosophical argument that is known as the doctrine of double effect. Principle of double effect and endoflife pain management. Is the principle of double effect morally acceptable. The doctrine of double effect is a principle of reasoning well known to moral philosophers. Pdf eight arguments against double effect ezio di nucci.
The doctrine of double effect and the trolley problem. As a principle it is important not so much in purely theoretical matters as in the application of theory to practical cases. According to the doctrine of double effect, someone who causes bad effects must have both a good intention and a morally acceptable reason for permitting the bad effects. The doctrine of double effect and the ethics of dual use.
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